(AD) Valentine’s Shopping at Gallagher Retail Park

Last Sunday I nipped up the motorway to Gallagher Retail Park in Cheltenham; which has 20 shops and over 500 FREE; may I just add again free parking spaces which is most definitely a bonus for me and with Valentine’s day just around the corner I needed an outfit. Its open most days 9am-8pm which is fab if you are busy with work or you can’t make it at a weekend.

I first popped into my ultimate favourite shop HomeSense. Spring has arrived there lots of beautiful faux flowers and a gorgeous pale pink sofa that won my heart! If you need a candle it’s the place to go. I think most people have heard or visited of HomeSense and if you’ve not, go now!

Boots is a great addition with its pharmacy, make up counters and other necessities on hand its always great for picking up something you need. I popped in and topped up on some make up that I was running low on

I had a wander into Pets at Home I did however manage to not buy the very cute Guinea Pig that was in the store but did pick up some treats for Honey.

Then on to Outfit! Outfit has which has 8 different stores within it such as Wallis, Miss Selfridge, Warehouse as well as many more. It has a men’s department and a kid’s department so something for everyone and all under one roof! Which makes life so much easier especially when choosing a whole outfit that might need many different components as you can switch between brands to find what you need. I had a good look round and found some absolute beauties of dresses and jumpers and potential Valentines outfits. I loved especially the Oasis jumpsuit, and all these wintery florals. Anyone who loves the tv series Friends would fully appreciate the lobster references on some of Oasis Valentine’s collection! They are amazing – who wouldn’t want a lobster on a jumper?

Then began my one of my least favourite things ‘the mass try on’. I decided to start with dresses. Who doesn’t love a dress for an evening? Like I said earlier there’s a lot of wintery florals and also some serious Valentine themed clothing. Lots of hearts and sweet little embroidery popping up this Valentine’s. Then decided to head of down the trouser section as usually my fall-back outfit is jeans with a nice top so I decided to up my game on that front and found a gorgeous pair of Oasis trousers in navy and a white Miss Selfridge cross over Bardot top. The Lady in the changing rooms was so lovely as I was having some serious decision issues (fairly normal for me) she was so helpful as were the other members of staff within the shop.

There is also Next, I had a quick whiz round here and unfortunately on the day I went half the shop was closed for some reason so I could only look at ladies wear and fell in love with a mustard jumper which I might have to buy for spring coming up. They usually have a men’s, children’s and a massive home department. There is also Patisserie Valarie inside the store which is great for recharging.

Lastly, I popped into Hobbycraft. Was anyone else obsessed with HobbyCraft when they were a child. I would save my birthday money to buy craft things. As much as I still love craft, I don’t have the time to do it but they do have a great baking department which had almost every coloured sprinkle you could want.

There are many more shops such as DFS, Sports Direct, Greggs, Oak Furniture Land and even Sainsburys which as a bonus has a petrol station too. So, you can do your weekly shop and pop across the car park and find an outfit for the weekend or find your perfect sofa and cushions. There is also EE which is great combined with the free parking as if you are getting a new phone or upgrading you can never be sure how long that will take to do.

The reason for this trip was I had been invited to look for the perfect Valentine’s day outfit and I think I found it. It was so much easier having lots of different brands under one roof. The bonus of having 4 hours of free parking means you can browse at your own pace and have a bite to eat.